https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/p...aths-c753ltp8m
Pentagon leaks blame UK for bombing deaths
The special relationship was under strain last night after Pentagon leaks claimed that the US had kept open a gate at Kabul airport, despite knowing there was a high risk of attack, to assist the British evacuation.
Senior government sources and Tory MPs accused Washington of trying to “shift the blame” after the leaks suggested that senior US military figures wanted to close Abbey Gate on Thursday, hours before a
deadly bombing.
Rear Admiral Peter Vasely, commander of the US forces in
Afghanistan, was said to have told colleagues in a call on Thursday that the gate would remain open because British forces had “accelerated their drawdown”…..
The leak of classified notes of calls with senior military figures and politicians, which were obtained by Politico, led to a backlash in Britain.
One government source said: “The US is having to explain the total mess that has been the evacuation. There’s clearly some hard briefing going on.”
Another government source did not recognise the briefing. “We understood the severity of the situation; we changed the travel advice,” the source said. “If they had closed Abbey Gate we would have been totally supportive.” The source was unaware of any British request to keep the gate open.
Tobias Ellwood, a Conservative MP and chairman of the defence select committee, said: “I fear this is more to do with an unhelpful blame game . . . it shows how much of a low ebb the special relationship has sunk to.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/0...k-kabul-507481